Adelaide and SA Feed In Tariff Information

Current solar feed-in tariffs in South Australia are known as Voluntary Retailer Contributions. This means SA electricity retailers don’t have to pay anything for electricity solar households export to the grid, although they usually do offer a buyback program.

As of March 2024, various rates per kilowatt-hour (kWh)on offer from electricity retailers include:

• • AGL: 6c – “Solar Savers” plan gives 10 cents for first 10kWh exported per day then 6c
  • Diamond: 5.2c
  • Energy Australia: 8.5c – “Solar Max” plan gives 12c for first 15kWh exported per day, then 8.5c
  • Origin: 6c – “Solar Boost” plan gives 12c for first 14kWh exported per day, then 6c.  “Solar Boost Plus” gives 20c for up to 2 years if you purchase a system up to 7kW from Origin.
  • Simply Energy (Engie): 5.5c – “Simply Solar” plan gives 8c

For the most up-to-date rates from these retailers and others, use our electricity retailer comparison tool.

Note that plans with higher feed-in tariffs for SA households with solar power systems won’t always result in the lowest electricity bills. You need to carefully compare the FiT rate with other charges such as the supply charge and consumption rates. Always check the fine print for other details that may affect whether a plan is best for you.

Also bear in mind that while feed-in tariffs are a nice bonus, the most value you’ll get from your solar panels is through maximising consumption of the electricity they generate.

Find Feed-In Tariffs And Compare Electricity Retailers

To find current SA solar feed-in tariffs offered by a wide variety of retailers in your area, you can enter your postcode into the retailer comparison tool below:

South Australia’s Older And Higher Feed-In Tariffs

South Australians who applied to install solar panels before the 30th of September 2011 could lock in a 44 cent feed-in tariff until the 30th of June 2028.

Those who applied from the 1st of October 2011 to the 30 of September 2013 could lock in a 16 cent feed-in tariff until the 30th of September 2016. This 16 cent feed-in tariff is now over.

If a household increases the size of its solar inverter or the capacity of its solar panels beyond what was already approved by SA Power Networks, they lose the high feed-in tariff.

Solar feed In tariff rules if you want to upgrade your solar system in SA

If you are in SA, on the 44c FiT and are thinking of upgrading your solar power system you need to find out what size system your installer received permission for to connect to the grid.

You can upgrade your system up to the size that is on your ‘permission to connect’ notice from SA Power Networks without forfeiting your 44c solar feed in tariff.

If you go over this size, you lose your 44c FiT and have to go onto the the current FiT (11c – 16.3c depending on retailer).

Just to be clear, here’s an example:

You’re in South Australia and have an 8kW inverter and 5kW of solar panels. Your installer applied for and received permission to connect an 8kW PV system. You can add another 3kW of panels and keep your existing 44c tariff. If you add more than 3kW of panels, you will lose the 44c FiT for the entire system and will get paid the current FiT rate.

If you are considering upgrading, I’ve written a detailed page on how to avoid getting burned when upgrading your solar power system.

The SA government’s official solar feed in tariff information is here.